Software company Oracle Corp. is reportedly in advanced talks with the White House to run TikTok’s US business, although significant questions remain over Chinese involvement in the social media app.
That’s according to Politico, which reported on Sunday (March 16), citing three people familiar with the discussions, that Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz are leading the reported talks on behalf of President Donald Trump. It comes as an April 5 deadline approaches to resolve TikTok’s status in the US.
Vance expects a framework for a TikTok deal by the April 5 deadline, NBC News reported separately on Saturday (March 15).
Speaking with the news outlet during an interview aboard Air Force Two, Vance said, “We’re trying to close this thing by early April. I think that the outlines of this thing will be very clear. The question is whether we can get all the paper done. There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise.”
NBC News said Vance did not provide specific details about the talks or the potential buyers involved.
Politico reported that the conversations between Oracle and the White House focused on what insiders describe as “Project Texas 2.0,” an expanded version of TikTok’s earlier proposal to house American user data on Oracle servers.
Key lawmakers including concerned Republicans will hold talks with Oracle this week to discuss the potential deal, four people familiar with the meetings told Politico.
One of the sources told the news outlet that a deal with Oracle would place the company in charge of protecting American user data and preventing Chinese government access.
“If the Oracle deal moves forward, you still have this [algorithm] controlled by the Chinese. That means all you are doing is saying ‘trust Oracle’ to disseminate the data and guarantee there is no ‘back door’ to the data,” the person told Politico.
The current talks follow Trump’s January executive order that delayed the enforcement of the TikTok ban for 75 days. The app went offline for less than 24 hours in January when ByteDance missed an earlier deadline to sell its stake after the Supreme Court upheld the divest-or-ban law.
Trump, who sought to ban TikTok during his first term, has softened his stance on the platform since returning to office. At a December press conference in Florida, he told supporters he has a “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok.”
In January, Trump told reporters that he was open to Oracle founder and executive chairman Larry Ellison acquiring TikTok. Ellison, a longtime Trump supporter, is also involved in the $500 billion “Project Stargate” AI infrastructure initiative. In January, Trump reportedly told reporters that his administration was in talks with Oracle over a plan to acquire TikTok’s US operations.
While Beijing had previously signaled its resistance to any forced sale, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in January stated that private companies are free to decide on sales or mergers.
“For such actions as corporate operations and acquisitions, we always believe that they should be decided independently by companies based on market principles,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in January.
In February, Elon Musk said he has no plans to buy TikTok. “I have not put in a bid for TikTok,” the SpaceX and Tesla CEO said at a conference. “I don’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok.”
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